Thursday's Ask the Experts: Hard floor care

Thursday''s Ask the Experts question from a cleaning professional on theInternational Custodial Advisors Network(ICAN)"Ask the Experts"page:Our patient rooms are being remodeled and an Armstrong''s Timberline is being used for flooring. It is heterogeneous sheet goods with a urethane coating on it. We can not get floor sealer or finish to stick to it. As soon as the floor gets wet, the finish dissolves. We have used the recommended products by Armstrong along with Spartan and Simonize floor finishes with no luck. We have also had some minor problems with some other sheet goods with the finish flaking after it is mopped. Is anyone else having this problem and is there a solution? The factory representative from Armstrong is also at a loss as to why this is happening.

The answer:

I experienced similar problems a few years ago with vinyl roll goods. A new finish I applied did not adhere to the existing finish I was using. The manufacturer of the finish explained it was an incompatibility issue (solvents versus acrylics). I had to deep scrub and recoat with a totally different product to obtain adhesion.

The second problem occurred after scrubbing new Armstrong VCT with a neutral cleaner and then applying four coats of standard floor finish. Within 90 days, the finish peeled off and I had to deep strip and recoat 20,000 square feet of tile at my cost. The finish manufacturer said ... — Gary Clipperton, president of National Pro Clean Corp.